1 There is well known to Us, Venerable Brethren - and it is a great cause of consolation for Our paternal heart - your constancy, that of your priests and of the great part of the Mexican faithful, in ardently professing the Catholic Faith and in opposing the impositions of those who, ignoring the divine excellence of the religion of Jesus Christ and knowing it only through the calumnies of its enemies, delude themselves that they are not able to accomplish reforms for the good of the people except by combating the religion of the great majority. But unfortunately, the enemies of God and Christ have succeeded in overcoming many lukewarm and timid souls who, although they adore God in the intimacy of their consciences, nevertheless, either through human respect or through fear of earthly evils, have become, at least materially, cooperators in the dechristianization of a people that owes to religion its greatest glories.
Source: Firmissimam Constantiam (Vatican.va)